ONLY - Precinct Courthouse in Texas - Fayetteville, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 29° 54.258 W 096° 40.553
14R E 724400 N 3310451
Only Fayette County had precinct courthouses. Three towns built them. A fire destroyed one, one was remodeled into a barn. Only Fayetteville has an original structure - making it the only one in Texas.
Waymark Code: WMR9KF
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/27/2016
Views: 2
Historical Marker Text:
Fayetteville citizens raised $600.00 in private funds, received $200.00 in tax money from the County Commissioners' Court, and built this Victorian precinct Courthouse in 1880. A ball held in the new building netted funds for painting. The 2-cell calaboose upstairs was completed in 1887. A ladies' club donated the clock in 1934. In early Texas, precinct Courthouses were very rare.
Texas Escapes Website
Robert Ripley once reported Fayetteville as being the smallest town in America having a chiming clock on it's square. The story of how Fayetteville got its clock is worth mentioning since it sparked a war of words between the women of the town who raised the money for the clock and the men who (after the money was raised) wanted to spend it on sidewalks. Sidewalks eventually appeared, but the clock was installed first.
A few feet beneath the clock tower - on the building's second floor are two cells which were added in 1887. These were usually occupied by over-imbibing saloon patrons - almost every one of them from out of town. Detainees facing more serious charges were transferred to La Grange.